Tag: belt and road initiative

ASIAAFGHANISTAN An Afghan soldier attacked US service personnel stationed at the Tarin Kowt airfield in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province on Saturday. One US soldier was killed and two others wounded in the attack. Elsewhere on Saturday, the chief of the Charsada district was killed by a roadside bomb in Ghor province and a Taliban ambush in Ghazni province … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: July 7-8 2018

There are new things on the horizon here, at my Patreon site, and elsewhere. Please check it out! ASIA PAKISTAN Two ISIS suicide attackers killed three Pakistani police officers on Tuesday in Mastung, a town in Baluchistan province. The Diplomat has more on Sunday's attack against a meeting of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement in South Waziristan. … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: June 5 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN A Taliban suicide attack against an army base in Helmand province on Sunday killed at least two Afghan soldiers. On Saturday, Afghan authorities opened a 12 day period to register candidates for parliamentary and district council elections this October. This vote is three years overdue and still may be disrupted by the Taliban … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: May 26-27 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN A tangential side-effect of the Saudi conflicts with Iran and Qatar is that the Saudis have of late been participating in international efforts to isolate the Taliban. Both Qatar and Iran have relationships with the Taliban, so this allows the Saudis to appear the righteous and loyal US allies. But the Saudis are … Continue reading World update: May 10 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Taliban fighters on Thursday night took control of the district of Kohistan, in Badakhshan province. At least 15 Afghan security officers were killed in the fighting before the Afghans were forced to retreat when requested supplies and reinforcements failed to arrive. This is the third district the Taliban have taken in Badakhshan, a province that … Continue reading World update: May 4 2018

MIDDLE EAST SYRIA The Syrian military kept up its bombardment of Yarmouk for another day on Monday, though it says it targeted only areas still under ISIS control. Apparently some of the group's fighters are refusing to leave despite the surrender agreement they negotiated with the Syrian government late last week. YEMEN The Saudi-led coalition … Continue reading World update: April 23 2018

ASIA CENTRAL ASIA The Carnegie Endowment's Paul Stronski looks at how Russia and China have, thus far, managed to avoid conflict over their competing interests in Central Asia. Russia has been very accommodating toward China's Belt and Road Initiative, though to be sure it's not like Moscow has the economic leverage to compete with Beijing. China, … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: April 4 2018